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Tight-fisted Joe

There are many measures of character, and charitable giving is an important one. Charitable people are more likely to put the welfare of others in the forefront. And that’s exactly where it belongs if one is running for public office.

Sen. Joe Biden, he of the “I’m just a Joe Sixpack trying to do my part to make the world a better place” persona, is nothing more than a Scrooge when it comes to helping others.

For the 10 years ending in 2007, Biden reported income of more than $2.4 million. That doesn’t make him mega-wealthy, but it won’t put him in a soup line, either.

Americans on average give about 2 percent of their income to charity, as reported on their federal tax returns. If Biden gave just the average amount, he would have donated about $48,000 to charity during that decade. But in fact he only donated $3,690 — less than two-tenths of 1 percent.

In contrast, Biden’s running mate Barack Obama and his wife Michelle contributed $60,307 to charity in 2006, about 6.1 percent of their combined income. John McCain, who filed separately from his wife Cindy, gave an estimated 19 percent of his 2006 income — or $64,695 — to charity in 2006. Sarah Palin’s income tax records have not been released.

The Biden spin machine quickly pointed out that the returns fail to take into account Biden’s time donated to charitable causes.

Right. The same is true of the tax returns of every American.

Joe Biden has suggested it is “patriotic” for well-heeled Americans to pay more in taxes. But voluntary giving is equally revealing, and Biden has failed badly in that respect.